Friday, 29 May 2009

What is the ISF you might ask and how does it relate to scouting. Well the answer is that it is the interamerican Scout Foundation which just recently held its meeting in-conjunction with the BSA National Annual Meeting. Here is the story of how the meeting went and what was accomplished:

Meeting of the Board of the Interamerican Scout Foundation

As has become the custom, the annual meeting of the Board of Directors of the Interamerican Scout Foundation was held in the framework of the national assembly of Boy Scouts of America, on 20 May in Orlando, Florida, in the United States.

The meeting was chaired by Geoffrey Wheatley (Canada), Chairperson of the ISF, and attended by Marshall Hollis (USA), Treasurer; José Antonio Hernández (Mexico), Secretary; and members William Finerty (USA), John Neysmith (Canada), Héctor Robledo (Mexico), Bruce Trefz (USA) and Ricardo Wagner (Guatemala); as well as Ronald Castro, Chairperson of the Interamerican Scout Committee and Gabriel Oldenburg, Acting Regional Director (WSB-IR).

In line with the meeting agenda, the Board heard the report of the Treasurer and took note of the current financial situation, which had been affected by the difficult conditions recently in the global economy. It analysed the options available for promoting the Order of the Condor within the national scout associations of the Interamerican Region, in order to increase the funds that the Foundation administers for enhancing operations in the Region. After reviewing other internal matters, the motion was approved to extend for one year the offices of Chairperson Geoffrey Wheatley, Vice Chairperson Bari Saunders (USA), Secretary José Antonio Hernández, and Treasurer Marshall Hollis.

Here in the Interamerican Region we would like to publicly acknowledge the efforts of Interamerican Scout Foundation Directors to provide financial support for the institutional activities of our Region, and we would like to invite all members of the Order of the Condor to actively help to seek new donors in their respective countries.

Here is a article from: www.scout.org which talks about who the new head of the United Kingdom Scout Association is, so here is the article:

Bear Grylls appointed new Chief Scout in the UK

On 18th May 2009, The Scout Association announced Bear Grylls’ appointement as the tenth and youngest Chief Scout of the United Kingdom and Overseas Territories.

Bear is one of the UK’s great outdoor adventurers; he is also a strong supporter of young people as seen via his work with international children’s charity, Global Angels. As Chief Scout, a position he will hold for five years, Bear will be the volunteer Leader of the largest co-educational youth Movement in the country: Scouting has around half a million Members including some 90,000 adult Leaders.

During his term, Bear aims to inspire more and more adults to volunteer for Scouting and is committed to reinforcing Scouting’s role as the place to offer adventure based activities to young people. Bear’s commitment to massively increasing the number of adult Leaders in the Scout Movement comes at a time when waiting lists to join Scout Groups across the UK remain at an all-time high: currently more than 33,000 young people aged between six and 25 are waiting to join Scouting in the UK.

Previously, as one of the youngest ever climbers to reach the summit of Mt. Everest, Bear is now the youngest person ever to become Chief Scout. He will be invested at a handover ceremony with outgoing Chief Scout Peter Duncan later in the year. Newly appointed Chief Scout Bear Grylls said: “I feel hugely honoured to be asked to take up this role as Chief Scout - it really is a dream come true. I have always loved helping young people live their dreams and to taste real adventure… The Scout Movement is a world-wide force for good and at heart it says that young people have the right to an adventure. And I for one am so proud to be part of that.”

In addition to Bear Grylls being appointed as the new Chief Scout, Wayne Bulpitt has been appointed as the first ever UK Chief Commissioner. This role will strengthen the day-to-day volunteer leadership functions within the Movement. Wayne will focus on managing and leading all volunteers within the Movement and will also be responsible for building relationships with political parties, Association ambassadors, and other charities and organisations.

New UK Chief Commissioner Wayne Bulpitt said: “I am delighted to have been invited to take on the new role and to lead our Movement at such an exciting time. The successes of the last few years mean that we are well placed to capitalise on our external high standing and profile and to fulfill our vision of providing inspiration, personal development and exciting opportunities to increasing numbers of young people. I know that we can only do this through increased support to those volunteers running our sections and units without whom there would be no Scouting. We now have a great opportunity to attract more adults to take on leadership roles in the Movement.”